Senate Democrats' PAC spends in South Carolina first time

Senate Majority PAC will spend 750,000 dollars on digital advertising in South Carolina, its first ever spending in the state, backing Democrat Annie Andrews against Republican Senator Darline Graham five days before the election.

Why it matters: A first ever Democratic super PAC buy in one of the reddest Senate states is the parties' own money confirming what the polls have suggested for a week, that a seat Republicans treated as safe is now a genuine contest that could decide Senate control.

Data as of Election November 3, 2026; The Hill report of October 30, 2026 from the feed pool, with the 750,000 dollar figure and the PAC's strategy corroborated via search results in this run (Politico's report as carried by Political Wire and Congress.net). The Republican aligned Senate Leadership Fund's 5 million dollar figure is the Democratic PAC's own characterisation of its opponent's spending, reported as such.

Senate Majority PAC, the main super PAC aligned with Senate Democrats, is putting 750,000 dollars into digital advertising in South Carolina, the first time the organisation has spent in the state. The buy backs Democrat Annie Andrews against Republican Senator Darline Graham, with the first spot expected to air as soon as Friday, attacking Graham over rising health care and prescription drug costs and presenting Andrews as a fighter against corruption, according to plans first shared with Politico and reported by The Hill.

The context is a race that has tightened in public. Fox News moved the contest to a toss up this week, and polling covered in yesterday’s edition showed the race effectively tied. Graham was appointed to the seat after her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, died this summer, and she is defending it as a first time candidate who has fallen behind Andrews in fundraising. The New York Times reported on Friday that Graham herself describes her position as a little nervous.

Republicans are spending like it is close too. Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French argued that the Republican aligned Senate Leadership Fund’s pledge of at least 5 million dollars in the state, and President Trump’s two rallies there, show the other side’s nerves: you do not send 5 million dollars and the president to a state if you are not nervous, she said. That figure comes from the Democratic side and is reported as its claim. What is not in dispute is the direction of travel: both parties’ outside groups are now spending serious money in a state neither budgeted for in the summer.

South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998. The buy extends a pattern this week, following Democratic money into Mississippi and competitive races in Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, in which strong showings by Democrats in North Carolina and Georgia freed up funds to push into traditionally Republican territory. Late money is a signal, not a result, but it is the clearest available evidence of where the professionals think the Senate map actually ends.

Senate Democrats' PAC spends in South Carolina first time

Sources